WASHINGTON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Friday of fraudulent and unapproved flu products amid a highly severe flu season.
America's food and medicine watchdog said this year's severe flu season raised new concerns about the potential for consumers to "be lured into buying unproven flu treatments," and "buying counterfeit antivirals online from websites that appear to be legitimate online pharmacies."
"The FDA is warning consumers to be alert, and try and steer clear of fraudulent flu products, which may be found online or in retail stores," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
According to FDA, the flu scams usually claim that they are able to reduce severity and length of the flu, boost immunity naturally without a flu shot, prevent catching the flu and give effective treatment for the flu.
The agency says that there are no legally marketed over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to prevent or cure the flu, while the legal OTC products can only reduce fever and relieve muscle aches, congestion and other symptoms typically associated with the flu.
A weekly flu activity report released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that the influenza activity continued to decrease in the week ending February 24, but it remained high across much of the United States.
The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza decreased but is high again at 9 percent for the week ending February 10, the CDC report says.
A total of 114 influenza-associated pediatric deaths for the 2017-2018 flu season have been reported to CDC.